


The Defenders Initiative

by Squidlywinks



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Cathy please don't kill me, F/M, Gen, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mild Language, Multi, Slow To Update, Speculation, Time frame jumping, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 05:18:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14301621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squidlywinks/pseuds/Squidlywinks
Summary: Because if they can’t avenge the mightiest heroes, you can be damned well sure they’ll defend their families.





	1. Strippers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BlackCoffeeCat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackCoffeeCat/gifts).



> Because of course, the first thing I post has to be something that makes blackcoffeecat cry. I swear, darling, I will post something happier later!
> 
> Hopefully, in a few weeks, this will all be cannon non-compliant.

“Ashes to ashes,” the minister drones, “and dust to dust.” He allows for a weighted silence after this, intending to let the gathered ponder the weight of the words.

It only serves to make Pepper want to scream.

It shouldn’t be like this. Peter shouldn’t be on the other side of this gaping hole, fidgeting with his slightly ill-fitting suit. Mae shouldn’t be having to grab his hands to make him stop.  It shouldn’t be this quiet, this drab, this black.

It should be loud, and raucous. It should be painted in the brightest, garish colors they could imagine. It should be filled with top shelf booze and catered food that is worth more than it has any right to be. There should be a rock band starting their next set soon. Pepper should be cringing to think about the inevitable noise complaints and the cleaning bills. There should be wild dancing. There should be strippers.

There should be strippers.

That makes Pepper cry. Because the other alternative is to laugh, and just the thought of that just hurts too much. Someone from the large amounts of egotistical social climbers and business magistrates that invited themselves that stand behind her sees her tears and tries to give her a well-meaning pat on the shoulder. From next to the Parkers, Nakia and T’Challa have to keep Okoye from vaulting over the grave to dismember the interloper’s hand.  She tries to give them her least shaky smile. She’s not sure it works.

But really, there should have been strippers.


	2. Upstate New York

Upstate New York is closed down.

It’s for obvious reasons. Things like, it’s not convenient for at least half of whose left. (Shiri already complains about the commute from California) It’s filled with outdated tech. (Again, Shiri complains about this) It’s built for Avengers, something none of them are. (And it’s Peter who is most disappointed by this)

It’s closed down for less obvious reasons too.  It’s too close to home. It’s too full of memories. Funding for the initiative is pulled, even as those who are pulling it are lauding its pilots as heroes.

In the end, for whatever reason they cite, the complex is abandoned and the last vestiges of the team that once called it home are stripped away.

It does leave a few of the remainders in a bind. Wanda doesn’t _technically_ have a legal address. Peter was kind of banking on an _actual_ internship at Stark. There are still a few hundred surviving Asgardians who are _literally_ without king and country.

In the end, it is Nakia who comes up with the most workable plan: they scatter. They are the Avengers no more, there is no need for a unitary base. Those who have no home and still in need of a mentor would go with those whose powers most aligned with their own. The Asgardian people would be welcome in Wakanda, where the level of technology would be more like what they are accustomed to. Should they wish to immigrate to other nations later, they would be welcome to.

It’s the best plan, they all agree. But they also all can’t help but feel that after such a long and intensive fight it feels a wrong going separate ways. Pepper starts the process of shutting of the reactors, and when at last the large “A” flickers out, they pile into their respective modes of transportation and turn away. And if they turn back for one last glance at what could have been?

Who can blame them?


End file.
